Concerns raised by the instant propagation of fake news in the digital age and the harmful impact it has on the credibility and independence of journalism, democratic values and human rights were examined by a panel of experts Tuesday at a side event of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“It is interesting how the perception of the term fake news has evolved and been manipulated because it described fabricated, inflammatory content, which very often is distributed through social media,” said Thomas Hajnoczi, Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

He said this posed dangers because “in our digital age, every individual has access to the internet where fake stories can be read by millions around the globe, and for many it is always hard to know what is true and what is incorrect.”

Eileen Donahoe, executive director of the Center for International Governance Innovation at Stanford University and former U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Council, called digital technology a force for good.

FILE – Eileen Donahoe speaks during the 13th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, March 24, 2010.

She said it has played “a very positive role in facilitating the free flow of information, access to information, blossoming of freedom of expression globally.

“It has also made possible the democratization of the means of distributing media and information. And, it just generally has been a positive force for the human rights movement.”

However, Donahoe warned that there were many forces working in the opposite direction and there was no guarantee that digital technology “would be a net force for good.”

She singled out emerging dangers from the so-called weaponization of information in the post-Brexit, post-U.S. presidential election world.

“It can be a very potent force in undermining democratic discourse and disrupting democratic processes, and that fake news … itself destroys the quality of discourse in democracy and undermines the relationship between citizens and their government,” Donahoe said.

Speaking from personal experience, Rasha Abdulla, associate professor in the Journalism and Mass Communication department at the American University of Cairo, agreed.

She said that in the past few weeks, her government has been blocking websites, particularly news websites.

“Right now, we are estimating that between 53 and 57 websites, mostly news websites, independent websites, have been blocked.

“So, if you block sources to proper independent journalism, you are only left with fake news. I mean, where else are you going to get the news,” Abdulla said.

FILE – This photograph taken in Paris on Dec. 2, 2016, shows stories from USA Daily News 24, a fake news site registered in Veles, Macedonia.

Social media groups such as Facebook, Twitter and Google have come under increasing criticism for producing and swiftly disseminating fake news on their sites.

Peter Cunliffe-Jones, chairman of the International Fact-Checking Network, an umbrella organization for independent nonpartisan fact-checking organizations, noted that tech companies have been coming under a lot of pressure — particularly in the U.S. election — to put the brakes on fake news.

“We have been seeing since then, Google, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms starting to work on strategy to tackle, themselves, the fake news problem at their level,” he said.

For example, he said that Facebook has agreed in several countries to work with independent nonpartisan fact-checking organizations to examine disputed claims of fake news signaled by Facebook users.

“We are living in what I think of as an age of information hysteria,” said David Kaye, U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. “The easiest way to deal with information we do not like is to censor it, to shut it down, to block a website.”

He called censorship a lazy way to deal with information we do not like.

“I think there is a growing dissatisfaction with freedom of expression and it is simply reflected by states. I am not saying that fake news, or whatever we want to call it — disinformation or propaganda — is not a problem,” said Kaye. “But what I am saying is that we should not be moving toward solutions … that are all about prohibition and censorship,” VOA News reported.

Concerns raised by the instant propagation of fake news in the digital age and the harmful impact it has on the credibility and independence of journalism, democratic values and human rights were examined by a panel of experts Tuesday at a side event of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“It is interesting how the perception of the term fake news has evolved and been manipulated because it described fabricated, inflammatory content, which very often is distributed through social media,” said Thomas Hajnoczi, Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

He said this posed dangers because “in our digital age, every individual has access to the internet where fake stories can be read by millions around the globe, and for many it is always hard to know what is true and what is incorrect.”

Eileen Donahoe, executive director of the Center for International Governance Innovation at Stanford University and former U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Council, called digital technology a force for good.

FILE – Eileen Donahoe speaks during the 13th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, March 24, 2010.

She said it has played “a very positive role in facilitating the free flow of information, access to information, blossoming of freedom of expression globally.

“It has also made possible the democratization of the means of distributing media and information. And, it just generally has been a positive force for the human rights movement.”

However, Donahoe warned that there were many forces working in the opposite direction and there was no guarantee that digital technology “would be a net force for good.”

She singled out emerging dangers from the so-called weaponization of information in the post-Brexit, post-U.S. presidential election world.

“It can be a very potent force in undermining democratic discourse and disrupting democratic processes, and that fake news … itself destroys the quality of discourse in democracy and undermines the relationship between citizens and their government,” Donahoe said.

Speaking from personal experience, Rasha Abdulla, associate professor in the Journalism and Mass Communication department at the American University of Cairo, agreed.

She said that in the past few weeks, her government has been blocking websites, particularly news websites.

“Right now, we are estimating that between 53 and 57 websites, mostly news websites, independent websites, have been blocked.

“So, if you block sources to proper independent journalism, you are only left with fake news. I mean, where else are you going to get the news,” Abdulla said.

FILE – This photograph taken in Paris on Dec. 2, 2016, shows stories from USA Daily News 24, a fake news site registered in Veles, Macedonia.

Social media groups such as Facebook, Twitter and Google have come under increasing criticism for producing and swiftly disseminating fake news on their sites.

Peter Cunliffe-Jones, chairman of the International Fact-Checking Network, an umbrella organization for independent nonpartisan fact-checking organizations, noted that tech companies have been coming under a lot of pressure — particularly in the U.S. election — to put the brakes on fake news.

“We have been seeing since then, Google, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms starting to work on strategy to tackle, themselves, the fake news problem at their level,” he said.

For example, he said that Facebook has agreed in several countries to work with independent nonpartisan fact-checking organizations to examine disputed claims of fake news signaled by Facebook users.

“We are living in what I think of as an age of information hysteria,” said David Kaye, U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. “The easiest way to deal with information we do not like is to censor it, to shut it down, to block a website.”

He called censorship a lazy way to deal with information we do not like.

“I think there is a growing dissatisfaction with freedom of expression and it is simply reflected by states. I am not saying that fake news, or whatever we want to call it — disinformation or propaganda — is not a problem,” said Kaye. “But what I am saying is that we should not be moving toward solutions … that are all about prohibition and censorship,” VOA News reported.

Concerns raised by the instant propagation of fake news in the digital age and the harmful impact it has on the credibility and independence of journalism, democratic values and human rights were examined by a panel of experts Tuesday at a side event of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“It is interesting how the perception of the term fake news has evolved and been manipulated because it described fabricated, inflammatory content, which very often is distributed through social media,” said Thomas Hajnoczi, Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

He said this posed dangers because “in our digital age, every individual has access to the internet where fake stories can be read by millions around the globe, and for many it is always hard to know what is true and what is incorrect.”

Eileen Donahoe, executive director of the Center for International Governance Innovation at Stanford University and former U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Council, called digital technology a force for good.

FILE – Eileen Donahoe speaks during the 13th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, March 24, 2010.

She said it has played “a very positive role in facilitating the free flow of information, access to information, blossoming of freedom of expression globally.

“It has also made possible the democratization of the means of distributing media and information. And, it just generally has been a positive force for the human rights movement.”

However, Donahoe warned that there were many forces working in the opposite direction and there was no guarantee that digital technology “would be a net force for good.”

She singled out emerging dangers from the so-called weaponization of information in the post-Brexit, post-U.S. presidential election world.

“It can be a very potent force in undermining democratic discourse and disrupting democratic processes, and that fake news … itself destroys the quality of discourse in democracy and undermines the relationship between citizens and their government,” Donahoe said.

Speaking from personal experience, Rasha Abdulla, associate professor in the Journalism and Mass Communication department at the American University of Cairo, agreed.

She said that in the past few weeks, her government has been blocking websites, particularly news websites.

“Right now, we are estimating that between 53 and 57 websites, mostly news websites, independent websites, have been blocked.

“So, if you block sources to proper independent journalism, you are only left with fake news. I mean, where else are you going to get the news,” Abdulla said.

FILE – This photograph taken in Paris on Dec. 2, 2016, shows stories from USA Daily News 24, a fake news site registered in Veles, Macedonia.

Social media groups such as Facebook, Twitter and Google have come under increasing criticism for producing and swiftly disseminating fake news on their sites.

Peter Cunliffe-Jones, chairman of the International Fact-Checking Network, an umbrella organization for independent nonpartisan fact-checking organizations, noted that tech companies have been coming under a lot of pressure — particularly in the U.S. election — to put the brakes on fake news.

“We have been seeing since then, Google, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms starting to work on strategy to tackle, themselves, the fake news problem at their level,” he said.

For example, he said that Facebook has agreed in several countries to work with independent nonpartisan fact-checking organizations to examine disputed claims of fake news signaled by Facebook users.

“We are living in what I think of as an age of information hysteria,” said David Kaye, U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. “The easiest way to deal with information we do not like is to censor it, to shut it down, to block a website.”

He called censorship a lazy way to deal with information we do not like.

“I think there is a growing dissatisfaction with freedom of expression and it is simply reflected by states. I am not saying that fake news, or whatever we want to call it — disinformation or propaganda — is not a problem,” said Kaye. “But what I am saying is that we should not be moving toward solutions … that are all about prohibition and censorship,” VOA News reported.

By Amra Šabić-El-Rayess –During the recent Presidential campaign, Melania Trump was presented with a pair of specially crafted stilettos by Bosnia’s Serb shoemaker Bema in her (and her husband’s) preferred color of white. Bosnian Serbs hope that their shoes will usher a new era into the White House. The imminent First Lady invited Bema’s president to visit after the election.

The leather, the design, and the style stem from the region where Serbs erected Holocaust-like execution camps for Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Catholics (Croats) to cleanse Bosnia from non-Serbs in 1990s. Melania’s clean white shoes were crafted with the same precision and dedication Bosnian Serbs feel toward the cause of a religiously pure Greater Serbia.

Bolstered by Trump’s fear of Muslims and his affinity for Serbs’ closest ally, Putin, Bosnian Serbs are now empowered with a new kind of audacity. They’ve planned a referendum to secede from Bosnia, as early as this year. Bosnia and Melania’s native homeland, Slovenia, were sister republics in the former Yugoslavia, where Melania grew up prior to that country’s violent dissolution in early 1990s. Putin’s growing reach into the Balkans and a possible establishment of a new Serb state would allow Russia to shake up the stability of Europe.

Putin has supported referendums in the countries he strategically targeted. In 2014, Russian-influenced Crimea held a referendum, proclaiming the region’s independence from Ukraine. South Ossetia is planning a referendum on whether to annex its territory to Russia in an attempt to finalize its secession from Georgia. Putin actively supports separatists and is likely to do that in Bosnia. In early 2016, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister, confirmed that Russia will expeditiously respond to Serbia’s requests for weapons, including providing Serbs with the surface-to-air missile system.

Last fall, Putin met with the Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, and promises were exchanged for Russia to equip and train the police force in the Serb-dominant portion of Bosnia. Russian banks have been equally present in propping up the economy of this Serb-dominated part of the country. In 2008, “Inter Rao UES,” one of Russia’s largest publicly traded energy companies, committed to investing $785 million in the Serb area’s energy sector alone, nearly 3300 percent of the U.S.’s annual aid to Bosnia as a whole.

And so, the question “Whose shoes will the new First Lady wear at the Inauguration?” isn’t one exclusively for the Style and Fashion section. Will she be shod in Ivanka’s latest? Will Ivanka tweet the style and price to a million millennial fashionistas in real time as Melania walks the red carpet at the White House? Will Vlad be waiting and watching the red carpet back in the original Red State? Will Melania find her inaugural footing in a shoe of the Serb people?

By comparison, Michelle Obama paired her 2008 sun-filled inaugural outfit, by Cuban-born Isabel Toledo, with green leather low-heeled shoes fashioned by Jimmy Choo, a Malaysian-born shoemaker who funded his British education by sweeping floors at a shoe factory. Michelle flashed her smile while waving to the hopeful world in J. Crew’s olive green leather gloves — her own olive branch to a waiting, anxious world.

Michelle followed in Eleanor Roosevelt’s footsteps in her preference for functional shoes comfortable for the long, hard climb still facing women in American politics. In her time, Eleanor wore her sensible footwear to teach poor Italian and Jewish immigrants in the Rivington Street Settlement House in Lower Manhattan. She wore shoes that a nurse who stands on her feet all day could appreciate. Eleanor wore the same sensible shoes to visit injured soldiers at the naval hospitals during the war.

For Eleanor, niece of Theodore Roosevelt and a woman no less to-the-manor-born than her husband, indistinct and serviceable specimens with low heels reflected her lesser regard for appearances. Instead, she advocated for women’s social mobility and economic prudence in FDR’s White House.

Of course, America has no lock on First Ladies. Wives of Russian premiers tended to shun the limelight, until Nina Khrushcheva accompanied her husband Nikita on a trip to the U.S. and had the incredible misfortune to be photographed next to the future Jackie O. Jackie looked fab, natch, in black. Nina looked like Ma Kettle in a sort of flowery sack number. The 1961 photo caused a furor back in Russia. Suddenly, looking stolidly proletarian wasn’t so chic as it once was.

SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES IMAGNO

By the time Lyudmila Putina arrived, she was causing a commotion for wearing a bigger-brimmed hat than Queen EIizabeth II, with a somewhat sheep-faced Vlad separating the two ladies in that snapshot.

SOURCE: ALEXEY PANOV / RIA NOVOSTI

Putin and his wife Lyudmila meet with Queen Elizabeth II during their 2003 state visit to Great Britain.

Similarly, the 2017 inauguration would not be the first time one of Donald Trump’s wives had inspired the perspiration of nation. Marla Maple’s shoes so intoxicated her publicist, Chuck Jones, that he confessed to an illicit affair with her insoles. Tabloids followed Mrs. Trump’s instep everywhere for months during the 1994 trial that wrung as much ink out of the press as Imelda Marcos and her infamous collection.

SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES NEW YORK POST ARCHIVES

Melania’s Inaugural shoes, in their stylish turn, may signal that Bosnia is once again up for grabs. Will her choice of stilettos encourage Bosnian Serbs to secede from Bosnia? And Russia to more bluntly engage in drawing new borders in the Balkans? Secession would trigger another bloodshed in the heart of Europe and a region already infused with pain and suffering. Our only hope is that America’s new First Lady spends the remaining days before her coronation reflecting on the gravity of her every step. (HFP)

By Courtney Tenz – As a 2017 European Capital of Culture, Aarhus has joined with 18 of its surrounding municipalities to present a full schedule of events and special cultural offerings for visitors to Denmark’s second largest city.

With a wealth of museums, galleries and cultural offerings, Aarhus has become one of Denmark’s liveliest cities, yet it receives considerably less attention than the capital city, Copenhagen. That’s set to change in 2017, as Aarhus has been selected as one of two European Capitals of Culture.

Viking heritage with contemporary diversity

Designating a city as a cultural capital dates back more than 30 years to 1985, when the Greek and French ministers of culture proposed the idea as a means of drawing people from around Europe closer together by celebrating the common history and values from across the continent while highlighting a place’s unique qualities. In that respect, Aarhus, one of Denmark’s oldest cities and filled with history and contemporary attractions, is the perfect fit.

Though ruins have been found dating back to around 830, in the early Viking Age, it wasn’t until the mid-1800s that Aarhus really found its place on the map. Originally named Aros, which in old Danish means “the mouth of the river,” the former viking settlement really grew once its harbor expanded in 1850. Now the busiest port in Denmark, it receives both container and cruise ships regularly. The modern city – the largest on the Jutland peninsula – is highly livable and pedestrian-friendly. Butting up to the sea on one side and surrounded by forests, nature is ever-present there.

With around 300,000 inhabitants, Aarhus is Denmark’s second largest city and home to nearly 40,000 immigrants from some 130 countries. It has a large Turkish community and is home to numerous former refugees who fled the fighting in Somalia decades ago. That diversity is exemplified in the unique “Bazar Vest.” The collection of shops run mainly by immigrants has won prizes for its enculturation efforts. It is Aarhus’ diversity that sets it apart from other major Nordic cities.

Something for everyone

Still, despite its size and modern amenities, Aarhus has gone largely unnoticed on the international level – something that it is hoped the designation as European Capital of Culture will change. Organizers expect more than five million visitors throughout the year. To prepare for them, they’ve created a more than 500-page program guide focusing on all of the cultural activities on offer in the city and highlighting the special events planned for 2017. Mainstays include the ARoS Aarhus art museum, with its rainbow-colored panoramic walkway designed by Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The open-air museum, “Den Gamle By,” (The Old Town), showcases the daily life of the city’s inhabitants down through the centuries, from the time of fairy tale scribe Hans Christian Andersen to the hippie heyday of the 1970s. At “Tivoli Friheden,” visitors can ride roller coasters and play arcade games.

Tree of Codes features lighting by Olafur Eliasson

For Aarhus 2017, the city joined forces with 18 of its surrounding municipalities to enhance the everyday offerings with a year full of wide-ranging cultural offerings that celebrate local Danish heritage and look to the future for ideas to advance the greater European community. Under the motto “Let’s Rethink,” organizers have emphasized considering Aarhus 2017 not as a one-off event, but instead a movement encouraging everyone to use culture to consider sustainable solutions to the challenges the world is confronting today, from climate change to social exclusion.

“Aarhus 2017 is going to be a creative tour de force,” said Aarhus 2017 CEO Rebecca Matthews at a press conference last year.

“We hope that the different perspectives and creative energy expressed by the outstanding artists assembling in Aarhus will be a catalyst and resource for managing those changes.”

Special performances

The festivities kick off on January 21, 2017. In a grandiose event by British artistic director Nigel Jamieson, a light procession will flow from the Musikhuset theater to the city harbor. With more than 5,000 local participants and several thousand lanterns, the event highlights local heritage with six large viking ships and over a thousand choral singers. Faroese singer Eivör and members of the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra will also take part.

Throughout the year to follow, special full moon events will take place on a near-monthly basis. Internationally renowned artists will visit Aarhus for special performances. These include “Tree of Codes” performed by the Paris Opera Ballet in April. Choreographed by Wayne McGregor, it is set to music by Jamie XX and features lighting by Olafur Eliasson. Also scheduled is “Distant Figure,” a collaboration between composer Philip Glass, choreographer Lucinda Childs and American stage director Robert Wilson.

Water music retells the viking legend Red Serpent’

One stunning highlight on the calendar will be a water music show. Taking place on the harbor on September 2-3, 2017, the spectacular theatrical performance retells the viking legend “Red Serpent.” Directed by Oscar winner Susanne Bier, it featurwes Danish singer and composer Oh Land as the Queen of the Sea, joined by 600 other performers, including acrobats.

Annual festivals

These special performances enhance an already thriving local culture scene in the city. Playing host to numerous festivals throughout the summer months, Aarhus has created a name for itself over the past decade among music lovers. From May 4-7, Spot Festival will feature a number of bands from Denmark and the Nordic region. The renowned Northside Festival follows on June 9-11 with a line-up to include internationally popular musicians like Frank Ocean and The Kills. Jazz fans will find their tastes accommodated at the Aarhus International Jazz Fest and the Riverboat Jazz Festival in nearby Silkeborg from June 21-25.

Over 50 years old and one of Scandinavia’s largest events of its kind, the Aarhus Festival will take over the streets, museums and nightclubs of the city from August 25 through September 3. Under the motto of “Bridging,” it includes not only live music acts but also dance performances and acrobatics as well as children’s entertainment. A food festival highlighting Nordic cuisine is scheduled for the festival’s closing three days, so visitors can experience events appealing to all five senses. (RDW)

By Annette Blum - Artistic projects of all kinds are so much a part of the fabric of our society/culture and continue to be tremendously inspirational, carrying a strong message and having the ability to resonate with large audiences no matter what the medium. It is this context that makes the work I am engaged in a small but important part of the enormous creative talent that exists throughout the world. I am a strong believer in the fact that in our world today, we are now all inter-connected in ways we never thought possible and that this enables us to change public discourse on critical issues. It of course takes much strength and conviction to create art that can promote transformational social change.

The intersection of arts and political activism are two fields defined by a shared focus of creating engagement that shifts boundaries, changes relationships and creates new paradigms. Both activist and artist work in the challenges of the unknown and the unpredictable, never truly able to determine the outcome and forever questioning if there is more to be done. This experimentation also forms the essence of what can be the engine of success and motivation towards true change whether we are immersed in a specific social cause or a global peace movement, composing an original score, sharing a story by means of carving a sculpture, or using performance to highlight a critical message. Whatever our chosen palette, the practice of understanding the importance of our own creative engagement is a source of potential change on its own, and a space where valuable insight can be found through reflection and sharing.

Art, Religion and Peace and Activism

In conjunction with Religions for Peace and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, I have engaged at the intersection of interreligious dialogue and engagement in social action though the arts and other forms of dialogue in the Middle East, the Gulf States, North Africa and the Caucuses, over the course of several trips that took place in the last few years. We spent time with leaders and visionaries in both the UAE and Israel, to discuss our diverse ideas for stability beyond coexistence. In May 2015, I shared a panel in Baku, Azerbaijan for the 3rd World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue to discuss opportunities within dialogue as an influential tool and specifically ways it can be capitalized on as a mechanism for attempting to shift violent extremism.

In 2015 I also collaborated with two significant and powerful arts festivals that showcased globalization for participants that attended from every part of the world. They both actively demonstrated experiential proof of how gatherings such as these can play a powerful role toward achieving and promoting social change.

I was proud to support and promote The Creative Time summit in conjunction with Creative Time Reports as an official partner of the Venice Biennale in 2015. This was the first time the Biennale hosted an arts activism conference of this nature which is significant in itself.

Provocative perspectives from artists from many countries around the world from China to India and from the Middle East to North Africa to Europe congregated at the Summit to air their views on charged political subjects facing our world today such as migration and refugees, conflict zones, terrorism, uprisings and elections, race and integration and women’s rights. These views were streamed to over 50 countries, creating a discussion in real time on how artists engage in voicing their unique point of view and can challenge others to see things in a new light which can speak truth to power. A few strong examples included artist Mariam Ghani in conversation with her father Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan about the current state of affairs post 9/11 and on her project “The Guantanamo Effect,” an interactive digital archive defining and connecting key terms and events in the global war on terror and on the flow of weapons from conflict zones back to the US and its prisons. Another participant was Joshua Wong, the well known and prominent Hong Kong student activist who was the conveyer and founder of the Hong Kong student activist group, demanding equal voting rights from the Chinese in 2014. The 19-year-old has been featured as an important youth leader by both Time Magazine in 2014 and Fortune in 2015.

Music, Culture and Healing

I ended the summer with another equally prominent gathering in Jerusalem which I was proud to be a part of and who I will be working with again in 2016. Jerusalem Season of Culture is now in its sixth year and is an amazing gathering of thousands of Israeli artists and hundreds of other international artists and musicians that congregate in Jerusalem not just to engage Israelis with Palestinians, but the secular and Orthodox communities as well. There are thousands of artistic venues in galleries, museums, historic sites, restaurants, private homes, and broadcasts. The festival has helped to engage the community in the power of art and artists to create transformation and has been successfully used as a tool to dissolve politically charged issues in a city that is otherwise seen by the world as deeply divided. In fact, after the Gaza war in 2014, even though some of the programs were postponed due to security issues, the sacred music festival which is probably the most powerful venue was used as a successful tool to bring people together around healing through music.

Musicians participated from all over the world and nine bands stayed to play despite international boycotts including a Muslim group from Morocco, Orchestre Chabab al Andalous who performed together with a Rabbi in the Old Citadel, singing Andalusian songs in Hebrew and Arabic. A pop up radio station was also created during the conflict to broadcast interviews about the importance of art under fire. Other interesting projects included ones around the history of the Temple Mount and that of Lifta, an abandoned Palestinian village which was successfully and beautifully brought back to life through art, lights and music.

It is programs such as these which very clearly demonstrate how essential it is to push forward through generations of obstacles with ideas and programs that bring people together towards social cohesion rather than division despite the political rhetoric in their country and by their governments.

As I move forward in this new, busy year, I look forward to being an inspirational change agent, pushing forward with more projects that inspire activism, fighting for human rights and building on themes of unity and social actions. Engagement with these opportunities and dedication to these objectives, no matter how complicated and unpredictable will provide the space for creating solutions to the challenges our world is desperately in need of.

The most internationally renowned literary figure in Turkey, Nobel prizewinner Orhan Pamuk, has criticized Europe for abandoning its democratic values and respect for human rights in the recent deal on refugees between the European Union and Turkey.

Turkey and the EU have agreed that the latter will give the former a 3-billion-euro package in exchange for Turkey agreeing to host Syrian refugees fleeing from the civil war in their home country and prevent them from trying to enter Europe. The move has come at a time when Turkey’s government has been increasingly accused of resorting to authoritarian measures, especially in the country’s Kurdish-majority Southeast.

In an interview published by the Hürriyet daily on Saturday, Pamuk condemned the EU for turning a blind eye to the human rights violations committed by the Turkish government in order to secure the refugee deal and said that Europe had “lost all of its values” and is operating with the mindset “If they do what we want, then they can do whatever they want.”

“[The EU] will turn a blind eye to the human rights violations and jailing of journalists [in Turkey],” the novelist said.

Pamuk also said that “the biggest problem [in Turkey] is freedom of thought, and especially freedom for journalists to engage in political commentary.” He compared the current political situation in Turkey to that of the Soviet Union under Stalin, saying: “There has been a huge attack on political commentators. The government is working through the newspapers.”

When asked how he sees Turkey today, Pamuk said: “The situation looks bad, and I feel sad about it. If I were a deputy from the ruling party, I would feel uncomfortable about the pressure being placed on university professors.”

Pamuk, who won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature and teaches comparative literature and creative writing at Columbia University in the US, was referring to the recent government operations targeting academics who signed a petition denouncing the effects of the Turkish security forces’ operations in the Southeast on the local Kurdish population. Several academics who signed the petition have since been detained or fired from their positions. “It is unacceptable to target professors and … insult them and call them ‘traitors.’ And to put [the Cumhuriyet daily's Editor-in-Chief] Can Dündar in jail, what can I say?” the writer added.

Condemning President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s desire to change Turkey’s parliamentary system of government to one featuring an executive presidency, Pamuk said: “We are already living in a presidential system. When the president says ‘I will hold Can Dündar to account,’ the judges do what he wants them to do. The civil service and the judiciary are too scared of the president, and no one is raising their voice in opposition.”

The Nobel laureate continued: “Just like everyone else who has similar views to me, I was disappointed by the result of the November [2015 general] election. However, is this the first time this has happened? There was [the case of former Prime Minister and President Süleyman] Demirel when I was a child. Am I the first leftist liberal and supporter of freedom to be disappointed? This is the story of our lives. But this time, it is just too much.”

By David L. Phillips – I met David Bowie in 1994, during the war in Bosnia. Bowie was deeply troubled by ethnic cleansing of Bosniak Muslims by Croats and Serbs. He used his celebrity discreetly yet effectively to raise awareness about events in Bosnia. I knew Bowie as a humanitarian and a man of principle.

Bowie and I met at the Imperial War Museum in London. I was accompanied by Haris Silajdzic, Bosnia’s Prime Minister. Arrangements were made by Bob Summer, the former CEO of SONY Music, and his wife Susan.

The purpose of our meeting was to view a painting owned by Bowie called “Croatians and Muslim.” The painting depicted two Croatian men raping a Muslim woman, while pushing her head into a toilet. Bowie described the painting as “evocative and devastating.”

The image was so troubling that the Imperial War Museum disowned it. Bowie stepped into the controversy, buying the art work from the Scottish painter, Peter Towson, for $28,000. Art, whether visual or musical, was a call to action.

With the help of Bowie’s publicist, we lined-up dozens of media meetings at the Dorchester Hotel. Silajdzic went from room to room, 10 minutes each, doing television interviews.

Bob and Susan hosted a small private dinner. Bowie was there. Brian Eno, the musician and master recording engineer, attended with Anthea. Peter Towson was present. Other personalities in the British rock scene were also seated.

The dinner conversation focused on the siege of Sarajevo. Not unlike what’s happening today in the Syrian town of Madaya, Sarajevo was encircled. Serbian artillery fired indiscriminately. Snipers took deadly aim. Residents had no food or water.

We talked about the impact of Towson’s painting. Guests expressed horror at the systematic use of sexual violence against Bosniak Muslims. We explored organizing a series of meetings to establish rape a war crime.

Bowie thought the siege of Sarajevo could be broken by holding a concert, and offered to perform.

Safe passage was his pre-condition. The journey to Sarajevo was a scary trip in 1994. Driving from Croatia over Mt. Igman was treacherous. The road was built on crumbling limestone. There were many road blocks and land mines. Alternatively, the UN provided a shuttle service from Zagreb to Sarajevo using old Antanov propeller planes. The shuttle service was sarcastically called “Maybe Airlines.” Flights were often canceled. Some took off, but never landed.

Silajdzic proposed dates for Bowie’s concert in the spring. The UN Department of Peace-keeping Operations suggested we travel by helicopter. I kept trying to confirm arrangements with Bowie, but he wouldn’t commit. Bowie later revealed his phobia for helicopters.

The Sarajevo concert never happened. Bosnian Serb forces intensified their attacks against UN safe areas. The slaughter continued through the following summer when 8,000 men and boys were killed in Srebrenica.

I ran into Bowie backstage at Carnegie Hall a few years later. He was performing at a fund raising event for Tibet House.

We reminisced about Bosnia; discussed the Dayton Peace Agreement. He updated me on Brian Eno’s charity called “War Child,” a music school for war traumatized youth in Croatia.

In his book, A Year, Eno wrote: “Incidentally one of the connections we made was this guy named David Phillips, from an organization called the Congressional Human Rights Foundation, and he has proven extremely helpful: sort of taking Anthea and War Child under his wing, introducing her to all sorts of useful contacts.”

I was honored to help. Bowie and Eno are good people. They are humble stars who helped mobilize the music industry in response to Bosnia, and to promote peace and human rights in other violent corners of the world.

The world knows Bowie as an innovator in the fields of music, fashion, and drama. David Bowie was also a world class humanitarian. He was strong, yet understated. He was principled, yet discreet. Bowie gave voice to the voiceless, using many instruments at his disposal to bend the arc of history towards justice.

Mr. Phillips is Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights.

By Kenan Trebincevic (Specially for Webpublicapress) – “Congratulations on qualifying for the World Cup bro, that must feel amazing for you guys,” my American-born friend Bob shouted over the phone.

He knew how excited I was that the Bosnian national soccer team – the Dragons – was one of the 32 teams vying in the world cup tournament in Brazil this month. In over twenty years, this was my first association with Bosnia that wasn’t war, ethnic cleansing, or genocide.

When I was 12, my family were victims of the Orthodox Christian Serbs’ campaign to erase Bosnian Muslims like us. I was sitting on my living room floor, flipping through my 1990 World Cup sticker album, looking at the American squad led by Alexi Lalas. Just then, my karate coach banged on the door with an AK-47 shouting, “you have one hour to leave or be killed.” He took my father, once a well known sports trainer, to a concentration camp, along with my older brother Eldin. We miraculously survived and fled to the United States in 1993.

So I was moved to read that the Bosnian soccer team’s prolific forward, Vedad Ibisevic, was a Muslim refugee like me. His

Bosnian soccer emblems (Photo by Hajat Avdovic – Webpublicapress)

family escaped to America, just like mine. On ESPN.COM I learned that Ibisevic’s mother hid him in a ditch to escape paramilitaries in the woods, and that his grandfather was axed to death by his neighbor. I felt even more proud of his triumph last October, when Ibisevic scored the game winning goal against Lithuania. That secured Bosnia the first World Cup entry since its independence in 1992 from the former Yugoslavia, our country that no longer exists.

The last time Bosnians played in the World Cup was in 1990, though they lost to Argentina in quarterfinals as members of Yugoslavian National Team. I watched the game on TV in my hometown when I was ten. I could hear loud chanting echoing from the apartments as my neighbors huddled around televisions and radios shouting “Yu-go-sla-via”. That was the last time ethnic Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs played together before the bloody break-up of my homeland that resulted in 300,000 dead.

Back then I collected World Cup soccer cards of my old local heroes. I’d stick them into an album, trading with my friends,

Bosnian National Team fans from USA (Photo by Hajat Avdovic – Webpublicapress)

Dalibor and Velibor, for the players I was missing. Growing up in the same Brcko apartment building, we stenciled our white T-shirts with numbers and pretended to be professional players. I’d shout out imaginary game-time commentaries as I dribbled a soccer ball down our paved parking lot aiming for the goal posts we’d mark with two red bricks. Someday I’d dreamt I’d be a great athlete my peers would look up to. We played till dusk, until we couldn’t see anymore. I was confused when my teammates all turned on me because of my religion.

While my city became occupied by enemy soldiers and paramilitaries, I’d sneak outside, in-between the fighting, to kick my lucky soccer ball against the wall by myself-since my old Serb friends stopped picking me for their games. I’d watch them play until a mortar landing nearby would scatter us, forcing us all to run indoors. Soccer was my way of surviving that horrible year I feared my family would be wiped out.

Bosnian National Team players (Photo by Hajat Avdovic – Webpublicapress)

Bosnia, a tiny nation of 3.9 million, is still recovering from the genocide two decades ago. For Bosniaks like myself, qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil offers light amid my country’s dark past. Now, as a 33 year -old physical therapist and proud American citizen living in Queens, NY, I’m still as sports obsessed as the rest of my diaspora. My coworkers are convinced that I take soccer too seriously, to an unhealthy level. “Kenan is yelling at the laptop in the back office. It’s only a game, “ my coworker said. Few American friends understand my over-identification with the Brazil bound squad.

Most of the Bosnian team grew up as refugees, splattered around the globe like I was. Some lost fathers fighting, others survived concentration camps like my dad and older brother did. These young humble players, shadowed by their own Balkan ghosts, are now Bosnia’s biggest ambassadors. They’ve fought through years of political chaos between three ethnic factions within the soccer federation. They seem to be the only Bosnian institution that achieved something positive since the war ended in 1995. They have put Bosnia back on the map, not as war-ravaged, still heavily segregated nationalistic country, but as a breeding ground of winners.

The squad of 23 men is mostly Bosniak, with a few Serbs and Croats, which some fantasize unifies my old country during

Trebincevic will be in Brazil to support Bosnian Dragons (Photo credit courtesy to Eldin Trebincevic)

the month long tournament. For me, seeing my old homeland play in Brazil is a victory against those who wanted Bosnia to dissolve. Soccer was always part of Balkan identity and our way of life. The first sign of war I remember was in 1990, when a soccer match between a Croatian and Serbian team turned into a violent riot. This marked the break-up of Yugoslavia. Now the game has become our weapon to win back our pride and place in the international arena.

History always repeated itself in the former Yugoslavia. Every fifty years war erupted and mass graves were dug. But for Safet Susic, the current Bosnia’s head soccer coach, it’s repeating happily. He was one of the Bosnians in Yugoslavia’s squad who played against Argentina in 1990. This June 15th, he will lead his 23 men against the Argentines in one of the world’s most famous soccer meccas, Maracaná Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. I first went to Rio in 2008 with my brother Eldin. We visited this shrine of a stadium and took a picture holding our ancient, war time Bosnian flag. Six years later history would repeat for us too.

Eldin ordered a World Cup tank-top for me from the World Soccer Shop Online. I laughed to see it come with players stickers and a soccer album, the kind I had at ten. For me, this is more than a soccer game. Just being able to play is a chance for redemption.

Kenan Trebincevic is a author of the acclaimed book “The Bosnia List: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Return” (with Susan Shapiro); Penguin, New York, 2014.

By Kenan Trebincevic (Specially for Webpublicapress) – “Congratulations on qualifying for the World Cup bro, that must feel amazing for you guys,” my American-born friend Bob shouted over the phone.

He knew how excited I was that the Bosnian national soccer team – the Dragons – was one of the 32 teams vying in the world cup tournament in Brazil this month. In over twenty years, this was my first association with Bosnia that wasn’t war, ethnic cleansing, or genocide.

When I was 12, my family were victims of the Orthodox Christian Serbs’ campaign to erase Bosnian Muslims like us. I was sitting on my living room floor, flipping through my 1990 World Cup sticker album, looking at the American squad led by Alexi Lalas. Just then, my karate coach banged on the door with an AK-47 shouting, “you have one hour to leave or be killed.” He took my father, once a well known sports trainer, to a concentration camp, along with my older brother Eldin. We miraculously survived and fled to the United States in 1993.

So I was moved to read that the Bosnian soccer team’s prolific forward, Vedad Ibisevic, was a Muslim refugee like me. His

Bosnian soccer emblems (Photo by Hajat Avdovic – Webpublicapress)

family escaped to America, just like mine. On ESPN.COM I learned that Ibisevic’s mother hid him in a ditch to escape paramilitaries in the woods, and that his grandfather was axed to death by his neighbor. I felt even more proud of his triumph last October, when Ibisevic scored the game winning goal against Lithuania. That secured Bosnia the first World Cup entry since its independence in 1992 from the former Yugoslavia, our country that no longer exists.

The last time Bosnians played in the World Cup was in 1990, though they lost to Argentina in quarterfinals as members of Yugoslavian National Team. I watched the game on TV in my hometown when I was ten. I could hear loud chanting echoing from the apartments as my neighbors huddled around televisions and radios shouting “Yu-go-sla-via”. That was the last time ethnic Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs played together before the bloody break-up of my homeland that resulted in 300,000 dead.

Back then I collected World Cup soccer cards of my old local heroes. I’d stick them into an album, trading with my friends,

Bosnian National Team fans from USA (Photo by Hajat Avdovic – Webpublicapress)

Dalibor and Velibor, for the players I was missing. Growing up in the same Brcko apartment building, we stenciled our white T-shirts with numbers and pretended to be professional players. I’d shout out imaginary game-time commentaries as I dribbled a soccer ball down our paved parking lot aiming for the goal posts we’d mark with two red bricks. Someday I’d dreamt I’d be a great athlete my peers would look up to. We played till dusk, until we couldn’t see anymore. I was confused when my teammates all turned on me because of my religion.

While my city became occupied by enemy soldiers and paramilitaries, I’d sneak outside, in-between the fighting, to kick my lucky soccer ball against the wall by myself-since my old Serb friends stopped picking me for their games. I’d watch them play until a mortar landing nearby would scatter us, forcing us all to run indoors. Soccer was my way of surviving that horrible year I feared my family would be wiped out.

Bosnian National Team players (Photo by Hajat Avdovic – Webpublicapress)

Bosnia, a tiny nation of 3.9 million, is still recovering from the genocide two decades ago. For Bosniaks like myself, qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil offers light amid my country’s dark past. Now, as a 33 year -old physical therapist and proud American citizen living in Queens, NY, I’m still as sports obsessed as the rest of my diaspora. My coworkers are convinced that I take soccer too seriously, to an unhealthy level. “Kenan is yelling at the laptop in the back office. It’s only a game, “ my coworker said. Few American friends understand my over-identification with the Brazil bound squad.

Most of the Bosnian team grew up as refugees, splattered around the globe like I was. Some lost fathers fighting, others survived concentration camps like my dad and older brother did. These young humble players, shadowed by their own Balkan ghosts, are now Bosnia’s biggest ambassadors. They’ve fought through years of political chaos between three ethnic factions within the soccer federation. They seem to be the only Bosnian institution that achieved something positive since the war ended in 1995. They have put Bosnia back on the map, not as war-ravaged, still heavily segregated nationalistic country, but as a breeding ground of winners.

The squad of 23 men is mostly Bosniak, with a few Serbs and Croats, which some fantasize unifies my old country during

Trebincevic will be in Brazil to support Bosnian Dragons (Photo credit courtesy to Eldin Trebincevic)

the month long tournament. For me, seeing my old homeland play in Brazil is a victory against those who wanted Bosnia to dissolve. Soccer was always part of Balkan identity and our way of life. The first sign of war I remember was in 1990, when a soccer match between a Croatian and Serbian team turned into a violent riot. This marked the break-up of Yugoslavia. Now the game has become our weapon to win back our pride and place in the international arena.

History always repeated itself in the former Yugoslavia. Every fifty years war erupted and mass graves were dug. But for Safet Susic, the current Bosnia’s head soccer coach, it’s repeating happily. He was one of the Bosnians in Yugoslavia’s squad who played against Argentina in 1990. This June 15th, he will lead his 23 men against the Argentines in one of the world’s most famous soccer meccas, Maracaná Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. I first went to Rio in 2008 with my brother Eldin. We visited this shrine of a stadium and took a picture holding our ancient, war time Bosnian flag. Six years later history would repeat for us too.

Eldin ordered a World Cup tank-top for me from the World Soccer Shop Online. I laughed to see it come with players stickers and a soccer album, the kind I had at ten. For me, this is more than a soccer game. Just being able to play is a chance for redemption.

Kenan Trebincevic is a author of the acclaimed book “The Bosnia List: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Return” (with Susan Shapiro); Penguin, New York, 2014.